Around the World and Back Again
by Melovelies
Summary: After the death of her mother, Bella is pulled away from her home and her best friend Teddy as she embarks on an endless journey that moves her from one place to another. Will she ever have a place to call home again? Or will she be nomadic for life? AU.


_Hi Everyone :)_

_So I've started yet another new story. I'll see how this one progresses before making any promises of finishing it. I've got a whole lot of other ideas stored in my head. So read, rate, review! :)_

_Disclaimer: Her props, my play._

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I turned around one last time and scanned the room with my eyes. Did I leave any of my notebooks on the desk? Nope. Any clothes still on the bed? Nope. Cell phone on the nightstand? Nope. I pulled the keycard out of the slot and watched the lights turn off before shutting the door behind me and hustling over to the to the elevator where dad was waiting for me. No, this isn't my home. And no, I'm not on vacation. This is my life, moving from one place to another.

If I go back 10 years, 9 cities, 7 countries, and 4 continents, then I would be at home, in a little house off Baker Road in Vancouver. I would walk around wearing my polka dotted dress with my little brown boots and my faux leather purse that dad brought back from one of his many trips to Dubai. Mom and dad would be sitting at our beautiful mahogany dining table, with her beautiful auburn hair cascading past her shoulders and his ocean blue eyes gazing lovingly at her as they ate mom's home made bread and jam. There would be a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange with pulp waiting for me on the table. I would have picked up my tin lunch box with a picture of the Cheshire Cat printed on it and kissed my mom good bye before walking to school with Dad. I would walk into the classroom where Miss Maggie would be waiting for us to start class. I'd take my seat next to Teddy and we'd talk on and on until it was time to go home. Teddy's dad was Dad's best friend. He would pick us up after school, Teddy and I would play in his backyard until mom came by to pick me up. But of course, that all in the past; I could never return to that time.

My mom died that day. Car accident; never even made it to the hospital. My dad was never the same again, he finally took the promotion that his boss was nagging at him to accept. He told me that it came at a good time. I knew he was right. His job would let us move around, and I didn't want to be near anything that reminded me of my mom's last day. Everything at home reminded me of the fact that my mom had died on her way to pick me up.

I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone. Not even Teddy, I've forgotten his real name. Truth is, I don't think I really wanted to face anyone. I just wanted to leave. I barely brought anything along with me, just clothes. Dad said that I needed to travel light. I left everything in that house off Baker Road, along with my memories of mom. The only thing I couldn't bear to part with was the little charm bracelet that mom bought for me on my first birthday. I had two charms on it: a maple leaf and a teddy bear.

There was no easing into Dad's new position. I was brought half way around the world. It was my first time leaving home. Dad was used to it; He was half German half English, and only moved to Canada because of mom. When I got off the plane and walked out of the airport, I was in China.

Yes, our first stop just had to be a completely foreign land which barely any English speaking people. Luckily, Dad found me an International School. So I began my life in China. I lived in the hotel that dad was working on, and everyday, I would take the bus to school. Kids in Shanghai were one of a kind. Most of my classmates were ABC's or American Born Chinese. They were all bilingual too. I felt left out. When I realized that they could be talking about me in Chinese, I was determined to be able to understand them. I was only 6 at the time, but I was stubborn. In the next two years, I moved to Hong Kong, and then Taiwan. By the time we moved to Tokyo, I was already fluent.

We weren't in Tokyo for long, a couple months at most. Dad decided to buy me my first laptop. I started home schooling. That didn't last long either. When dad found out that we were moving to Dubai, he enrolled me in yet another international school. Said I was getting too lonely, that a kid my age should be playing with other kids. I was 10. Kids here were nice. Most of them were almost nomadic too, just not as much as me. The school was small, only 8 kids in my grade. One of them, Angela, was a shy girl, but she had had her fair share of first days at schools, we became fast friends. The hotel I lived in ,the two years I was there, had a water park and a mini aquarium. We hung out there almost every day, going down to the buffet for lunch, walking over to the ice cream store for desert, heading over to the wave pool. We had fun.

The day we moved from Dubai to Rome was the first time I cried since Mom had died. Dad decided that the toll on moving around was too much on me. I went back to being home schooled. From Rome to Cairo, Cairo to Alexandria, and finally here, to France. Of course, not for long. My 16th birthday just past a while ago. Dad says that we're finally moving somewhere that speaks English. Back to dad's home in London, Britain.

It's October 27th, middle of the school year, but I've decided that I'm going back to school. Most kids think hotels are fun. They aren't fun if you've spent the last 5 years copped up in them doing math problems on your laptop.

High school's not fun, especially not when you're a year ahead in your studies and have been placed with everyone a year older than you. My name is Bella Swan and I'm a 16 year old senior- in high school.


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